Healthcare: On the Agenda - Risk of cancer is rising sharply

New research has suggested that four in ten people in the UK will be
diagnosed with cancer. A Macmillan Cancer Support study showed that 42
per cent of people who die in the UK will have had a cancer
diagnosis.

The study

The statistics are based on calculations using existing data about
deaths in the UK and how many of those who died had a cancer diagnosis
at some point in their lives. Macmillan used this data, together with
statistics showing the decrease in people dying from cancer, to talk
about one of its key campaigning strands - 'survivorship' - living with
and beyond cancer. The number of people living with cancer has also
increased in the UK by almost 35 per cent in the past ten years, from
1.5 million to two million in 2008. This is because more people are
getting cancer and as treatment improves, more are surviving longer.
Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: 'It is
really alarming that the number of people who will get cancer is now
well past one in three.'

PR strategy

The PR was handled by Macmillan's in-house campaigns and services PR
team, which sold the story in to all major news outlets on 12 and 13
July.

Media coverage

The story received blanket coverage across national media including BBC
Radio 4's Today programme, BBC News 24, Sky News, ITV News, the Daily
Mail, the Daily Mirror, The Guardian, The Sun online and The Independent
online. There were 390 online mentions of the 42 per cent stat.